Fence-wire stretcher.



E. MORROW. FENCE WI RE STRETCHER. APPLICATIONFILEDTEB. 24. 1914.

1,168,098, Pat (Su ted Jan. 11, 1916.

- position.

EPHRAIM MORR-OW, or BAKERSTOW-N,PENNSYLVANIA.,7

FENCE-WIRE s'rRn'rcHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 24, 1914.- Serial at. 820,668-

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EPHRADII Moxnow, acitizen of the United States, residing at Bakerstowmin the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Fence- WVire Stretchers; and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full. clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the artto which itappertains to make and use the same. This invention relates to fencewire stretchers, and one of'the principal objects of the invention is toprovide siniplereliable and efficient means for uniformly stretching theline wires of a fence, and to provide a device for the purpose referredto which will stretch all the line wires simultaneously and equally.

'Another object of the invention is to pro vide a fence wire stretcherwhich will stretch the longitudinal or'line wires of the-fence uniformlyon the sides of a hill, in a hollow,-

or over the top of a hill, andto insure the top line wire and thebottom' line wire as well as the intermediate wires an equal ten sion toform a stiff and rigid fence.

These and other objects may be attained by means of the constructionillustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fence.

wire stretcher shown in use and made in accordance with this invention,Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1 and'showingthe worm and connected parts in section, F ig. 3 is a sectional view ofthe winding shaft taken on the line of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 1 designates a fence post, 2 arethe line wlres of the fence and 3 are vertical strands. The

fence post 1 is braced by means of the horizontal ground line braces 4and 5 disposed.

at right angles one to the other and held firmly against the ground lineof the post 1 by stakes 67 driven into the ground. Inclined braces 8 and9 are fitted at their upper ends in a notch in the fence post 1, whiletheir lower ends abut against the stakes 6 and 7, thus holding the post1 firmly in The fence wire stretcher comprises a base 10, preferablyformed of hard wood, and secured to said base are the bearing brackets11 for the winding shaft 12. Securedbentrally to the base 10 by bolts 13is a supporting bracket 14 for the winding shaft 12, and

.for the worm or crank shaft 15.

Fitted on the windingvshaft 12, and held by means of a pin 16 is a wormgear wheel 1 A worm '18 is connected to the crank PatentedJan.11, 1916.

shaft 15 by means of pins 19, and the teeth of the worm gear wheel 17engage the grooves in the worm 18, and when the worm is rotated by meansof the handle 20, the winding shaft 12 will be rotated to stretch theline wires 2, said wires being extended through openings 21 in the'baseand openings 21 in the winding shaft and then bent as shown at 22 inFig. 3. I

The operation of the fence wire stretcher may be briefly described asfollows One or more of the vertical strands 3 may be removed, and theends of the line wires 2 are extended through the openings 21 in thebase and openings 21 in the winding shaft 12, and the ends 22 are bentdown as shown in Fig. 3. Staples a may be partially driven into theposts over the line wires. By turning the crank 20 the line wires 2 areequally stretched and when sufficiently taut, the staplesa may be drivenhome into the post and the stretcher removed to the next point ofoperation.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that the line wires will beuniformly stretched, and that the upper and. lower line wires whenpassing over a hill or down into a hollow will be stretched properly toform a stiff and tight fence.

Various changes may be made in the details of construetionwithoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as derality ofopenings, a winding shaft mounted in said brackets, a worm gear disposedcentrally on said shaft, said shaft having perforations therein inalinement with the openings in the base through which the line wires ofthe fence extend, a bearing bracket including nelati've'ly long-spacedears havdug yer-tlcall'y alined apertures rotatably recelving saidWinding shaft and relatively short spaced ears having horizontallyalined apertures, a crank shaft mounted to rotate in the relativelyshort ears, a Worm on said I crank shaft disposed between said shortears,

and a crank handle for operating the windin shaft. 10 I

